More than just good grades: candidates’ perceptions about the skills and attributes employers seek in new graduates
By Manuel Salas Velasco. 2012
110 citations recorded by the source corpus.
There is a common belief among university students that they have to study hard attempting to earn high grades because employers are targeting graduates with outstanding academic records. However, this idea does not seem to capture what is actually happening in organizations, as firms value more aspects related with personality and other personal qualities of young graduates. We present a case study of the hiring process of recent university graduates to test these hypotheses. The methodology used follows a two stage approach. Principal component analysis allows us to identify first key categories of skills and attributes that influence the selection process. Then, using econometric analysis, a matrix classifies them according to employer size and type, degree, position and industry. The results show that soft skills (personality and other qualities) are the most required attributes in the selection process. Good academic records only matter in the public sector.
Subfields: Economics and Econometrics
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/850d63a1e0174195070fe97638ec57d4029795bb
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In Economics and Econometrics
Citations in the corpus
- Soft Skills Needed for the 21st-Century Workforce (2019, background): “The wrong decision about a candidate’s knowledge and skills can be costly to an organization (Velasco, 2012) due to resulting effects on business outcomes such as worker behavior, safety, productivity, engagement, and withdrawal.”